Spark igniting device for gas and oil engines.



J. G. NEWMAN.

SPARK IGNITING DEVICE FOR GAS AND OIL ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED BEPT-20, 1911. i

Patented Mar.11,1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

VIGI

FIGB

Jiri/672507' J. G. NEWMAN. SPARK IGNITING DEVICE FOR GAS AND OILENGINES.

. l APPLIGATION FILED SEPT.20, 1911.

1,055,349, Patented Mar. 11, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ul 'faz lliv J. G.' NEWMAN. SPARK IGNITING DEVICE POR GAS AND OILENGINES. I APPLICATION FILED SBPT.20,1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

NITED STATES PATENT'QFFICE;

JOHN GLEN NEWMAN, 0F MOORE PARK, NEAR SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES,AUSTRALIA.

Specification 'of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11, 1913.

Application iled September20, .1911. Serial No. 650,391.

gines, of which the. following is a specificaj tion.

My invention relates. to means for igniting the' gaseous charge in thecylinders or other explosion chambers of internal combustion engines,and it consistsvin a mechanical device in the form of a sparking plugoperated by the engine, by means of which device a spark is produced by'striking with an abradant device a pyrophoric body from' whichincandescent particles are thrown off when its surfaceis frictionallyexcited.

According to my said invention a disk and a pencil, one of which iscomposed of pyrophoric material and the other of hard metal, arecontained in the `pocket of a sparking plug which pocket is in opencommunication with the cylinder' head or explosion chamber of theengine. The disk is moved at proper intervals by a mechanical connectionfrom the engine sha t. The friction between the diskand the pencil whilethe same are in rubbing contact the one ,with the other causes thethrowing oil' of fine particles of the pyrophoric material in anincandescent condition, as sparks, and the charge is ignited thereby.

The pyrophoric material used is a known metallic composition which `whenstruck or frictionally rubbed by a striker consisting of a scratching orfiling rod or disk of steel or other hard metal emits sparks. Abrasivematerials such as emery and carborundum possess'pyrophoric properties,but are objectionable forthis use as their dust is liable to causemechanical injury to the piston rings and cylinder walls and other partsof engines. I therefore prefer to use known pyrophoric metallicsubstances composed of iron, carbon and cerium or like elements, thedust of which is not an active abradant.

In the accompanying drawings an ignition device according to theinvention is illustrated with certain alternative variations in detailin the mechanical devices used for imparting motion to the movingelement. v

Figure 1 is a fragment sectional elevation of an engine withsparkingdevices according to my invention fitted to the cylinder headsand fitted with mechanism for oscillating the disks in proper timingwith the engine shaft rotations; Fig. 2 fragment end view of the shaftand bevel wheel connection from thehalf time or cam shaft; Fig. 3corresponding top plan; Fig. 4 detail elevation of the spring and cammechanism by which the disk spindle is oscillated; Fig. 5 is a sideelevation showing the mechanical operating device arranged to move thedisk a part of a rotation at the correct intervals instead ofoscillating the disk a part of a rotation as in the arrangement shown inFigs. l to 4;

Fig. 6 detail of the tappet arm and cam drum; Fig. 7 vertical sectionalelevation; Flg. 8`detail of pencil; and Fig. 9 planhorizontal sectioncorresponding with Figs. l

5 and 7 Fig. 10 is a verticalsectional elevation illustrationr anarrangement in Iwhich the disk is maintained in permanent rotation,`andis slid endwise into contact with the pencil at the correct sparkingtimes;

Fig. 11 is a corresponding end elevation;

Fig. 12 a corresponding fragment top plan;.

and Fig. 18 an enlarged (about full size) vertical section through theplug or sparking device.

It is immaterial whether the pencil or the disk be composed of thepyrophoric material, but in practice it is preferred that the pencilshall be made of pyrophoric material and that the disk shall bo of hardsteel with a serrated striking edge. The best striking edge is obtainedwith a polished disk of steel having a few tine yclean marks cut acrossit, such as would he made on a surface of soft metal by scoringl it witha penknife. The contact of one such sei-ration with the pyrophoricpencil is fully sufiicicnt to produce a fat spark if the movement of'feather 27 thereon.

`in helical order, en echelon.

disks, 20 oil fan disks,

sparking plug in whichV against looseness of the contact due to enginevibration a very light spring with or without a screw `down pressuredevice to take up wear of the pencil may be set to bear the pencilagainst the disk.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4: 1 is the half time shaft, 2 connect-ing shaftgeared there to by bevel wheels 3 and 4, 5 and 6 are bevel ,vheelstransferring the drive from the shaft 2 to the way shaft 7 through thecolwhich is made with an internal slot engaging the way shaft 7 by meansof a The rear'end of the with a grooved collar 9 against which bears ahelical spring 10 in compression, 11 is a bell crank with forked 'endengaging the grooved collar 9 and operated froma hand lever or from agovernor of any known type through a link connection 12. 13 are camdrums keyed on the way shaft 7. These drums are each armed with a seriesof detents or cams 14 arranged 15 are tappet arms keyed to theoscillating disk spindles 16 and hung up at-.`the rear ends by helicalspring 17 to brackets 18. 19 are the striker 2l inspection plugs,

way shaft 7 is fit-ted 22 pockets in'the the disiwand pencils arecontained, 23`tubu lar cap containing the striking pencil 24, 25stuffing box, 26 engine cylinder.

Referring to Figs. 5 to 9: In this arrange ment the disk is made to turna portion of a rotation' at each contact of the cam with the tappetilinstead of being made to oscillate to and fro'ton its axis as in thearrangement shown in Figs. 1 to Corresponding ligores" of referenceindicate parts similar to those shown in Figs. l to 4. The tappet 3carries a pawl 3l and a spring 32 which bears said pawl 3l against thedetent wheel 33 which is keyed to the disk shaft 16. A

it to drop `freely by reason .of its Aes pawl 34 centered on thebracket,18 at 35 also engages the detent wheel 33 and is kept inengagement 'therewith by means ofa spring 36. In Fig. 8 the disk is ofpyrophoricmaterial and the steel pencil 24 is shown formed with a head437 having a slot 38 cut lengthwise in it. A feather 39 inthe rcap 23fits loosely in the slot 38 and so prevents rotation of the steel pencilwhile permitting weight` so that its chisel point keeps in contact withthe pyrophoric disk 19. Obviously the pencil may be made of pyrophoricmaterial and the disk of hard metal with a serrated edge. In that casethe pencil is not fittedl with a slot and. feather 38, 39.

Referring to F gs. 10 -to 13,*:111 arrangement shown in which the disk63 is of pyrophoric material and the pencil 24 a hard steel rodpreferably with sharpened chisel point. The pencil is shown underpressure of a light spring 40, the tension of which'may be regulated bymeans of a hand screw 4l. Such a spring and regulator is usable also in'the 63 a smooth edge disk'of steel or bronze 4'3..

The spindle 42 is rotatable in the pocket 22, and as in the previousarrangements a fan disk 20 is fitted between its main bearing and theendv of the spindle 42 is fitted with a belt wheel 44 between which andthe end of the stuffing box 45is a helical spring 46 in compression. Thespindle 42 is rotatable and also movable endwise in its bearings and isnormally held outward by means of the spring 46 so that the pencil 24will ride on the hard smooth edged disk 43. A belt, in-l dicated by thedotted line 47, conveys rotat-ion to the wheel 44 and thence to theshaft 42 from the wheel 48 which is-mounted on the end of the crankshaft or.` on any other suitable rotating' part of theengine. 49 is avertical rocker shaft slidable endwise in its bearings 50 and supportedby riders 51 which sit on the forked ends of a rocking lever 52. Betweenthe riders 51 and the upper bearing 5() is a helical spring 53 incompression., Anv adjusting screw 54 is fitted for setting the limit ofvertical position of the rock shaft 49. This position ofthe rock shaftcan be however varied by moving the lever 52 on its axis by means of thelink and lever gear 55 shown in dotted lines in the drawings, which gearis operated either manually or by any governor. Normally the spring 53will press the rock shaft 49 downward as far as it will be permitted togo by the set of the lever 52. The lower en'd of the rock shaft 49 isfitted with a tappet arm 5G' which is engageable by any one of a seriesof cams mounted on the `disk 58, which disk is keyed on the end'of thehalf time shaft 1. shaft 49 hasy also keyed upon it a wing or pusherplate 59 which makes contact with the outer end of the striker diskspindle 42 without checking its rotational movement. The pyrophoricpencil-as shown 'in Fig. 13 is incased in a brass shell 60 whichfacilitates its sliding in the tubular cap 23 and constructions shown inpyrophoric disk. The outer The upper end of the rock L through theaperture in the top of the manent rotation at the same rate of speed asthehalf time shaft l. As the cam drums rotate .with it, 4and as one orother of the cams on each of these drums is in aline-ment with one ofthe tappet levers 15, those tap pct levers are each actuated once inevery two revolutions of the engine and cach in its proper firing orderand firing interval.

.At each oscillationthese tappet levers oscillate the striker spindleand the striker thereon, causing the edge of the striker disk Le@contact with the pencil end.

leak inward from the spindle bearing. The y presence of oil on thepyrophoric material tends to diminish its sparking quality and it istherefore desirable that means be used for the purpose 0f keeping thepyrophoric ma-' terial dry.

Referring 'to Figs. 5 to 9: The tappet 1evers 30 are reciprocated oncein every rotation of the way shaft 7 by the contact of said cams 14against the ends thereof, and the reactive movement applied by thespring 17 when the levers are released by said cams 14. In the liftingmovementI effected directly by contact of the cams, the pawls 31 areadvanced over one of the teeth in the detent wheel 33. The returnmovement of the tappet lever 30 electuated by the pull of the spring 17is applied to the detent wheel 33 through the pawl 31 which is held upto its work b the back spring 32; and the detent Whee 33 andconsequently the spindle 1b are thus partially rotated. At eaclr saidpartial rotation the detent wheel 33 is locked by the fixed spring pawl34 in order. that in the lifting movement of the tappet the spindle-16and the striker disk will not be reversely rotated. At each such partialrotation of the striker disk 19, its edge is rubbed against the point ofthe striker pencil 24 and a stream of sparks is projected into thepocket 22 and the gas charge is lighted by the sparks. There may be anyrequired number of cams 14 on the cam drums 18 in order to provide forany necessary gradation in the timing of ignition and for any necessaryextreme limit of such timing. In order to change the timing of ignitionitis only necessary, as in the case of Figs. 1 to 4, to slide the wayshaft 7 in its bearings by means of the link and lever gear 1l-12, whichis best shown in Fig. 3.

Referring to Figs. 10 to 13: The pencil is composed of pyrophoriematerial. The spindle 42 carrying the plain disk 43 and the striker disk63 as also the oil fan disk 20 is slidable in its bearings in thesparking plug but it is held outward by the spring 46 so that the smoothdisk 43 is in The shaft 42 -and the disks are kept in constant rot-ationbyl means of the belt. 47 passing over the wheels 48 and 44, but thestriker disk is only brought in contact with the striker pencil when thespindle 42 is slid inward by the pressure of the pusher plate 59 uponits end. This contact of the pusher plate occurs when the vertical shaft49 is rocked in its bearings and such rocking is effected by thecontactwith its tappet 56 of one or other of the cams 65 on the face ofthewheel 58, said wheel being rotated by the half time shaft. The cams65 are arranged in spiral order on the face of the disk 58. Theparticular cam by which the tappet 56 will be operated depends upon t-hevertical position of the rock shaft 49, and this vertical position iscontrolled by means of the link and lever gear 52-55, the limit beingset by means of the regulating screw 54. During the rotation of theengine, therefore, the shaft 49 is oscillated by contact of the cams 65with its tappet 56,0nce in every alternate revolution, and thisoscillation of the shaft 49 causes the pusher plate 59 to press thespindle 42 inward, thereby bringing the striker disk G3 under and incontact with the striker pencil. As the disk 63 is permanently inrotation, immediately it is brought inl contact with the pencil 24 astream of'sparks is emitted.

As shown in Fig. 13 the striker disk 63 is formed with a tile surfaceand in other figures with a milled surface. It is however, onlynecessary that the disk be lightly marked as before described, as verylight frictional contact with the end of a pyrophoric pencil suffices toproduce the necessarywspark stream.

The spiral or helical arrangement of the series of cams, which is thesame on each of the several drums, and the means described for bringingsaid drums into operative relat-ion with the lever tappets, enables thespark to be produced in every cylinder at the proper position of retardor ad- Vance to. obtain satisfactory ignition of 105 the severalcombustible charges.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. An ignition device for combustion engines which consists of arotatable disk and a pencil in frictional contact therewith, one of thetwo being made of pyrophoric material, and means for intermittentlyrotating said disk to form a spark to ignite the charge in the engine. Y

2. An ignition device for combustion engines which consists of arotatable disk and a pencil in frctional contact therewith, one of thetwo being" made of pyrophoric material, and means. for intermittentlyrotat- 120 ing said disk to form a spark to ignite the charge in theengine, said means responsive to the rotation of the engine crank shaft.

3. An ignition device for combustion engines which consists of arotatable d isk and 125 a pencil in frictional contact therew1th, one ofthe two being made of pyrophoric material, and means for intermittentlyrotating said disk to form a spark'to ignite the charge in the engine,and means for lvarying 143e the time whensaid rotation takes place withrespect to the position of the engine parts.

4. An ignition device for combustion engines which consists of arotatable disk and a pencil in frictional` contact therewith, one o-fthe two being made of pyrophoric material, and means for intermittentlyrotating said disk to form a spark i in the engine, said meansresponsive ,to the rotation of the engine crank shaft and means forvarying the time when said rotation takes place with respect to the'position of the engine parts.

` 5. An ignitiondevice for combustion engines which consists of arotatable disk and a pencil in frictional contact therewith, one of thetwo being made of Apyrophoric mae terial, and means for intermittentlyrotating said disk comprising a rotating shaft driven from thecrankshaft, a cam lever in connection with said rotatable disk and camtappets on said shaft, to form a spark to ignite the charge in theengine.

6. An ignition device for combustion engines which consistsof arotatable disk and a pencilin frictional contact therewith, one of thetwo being made of pyrophoric material, and means for intermittentlyrotating said disk comprising a rotating shaft driven from the crankshaft, a cam lever in connection with said rotatable disk and camtappets-on said shaft to form a spark to ignite the charge in theengine, said means responsive to the rotation of the engine crank shaft.

7. `An ignition device for combustion engines which consists of arotatable disk and a pencil in frictional contact therewith, one of thetwo being made of pyrophoric material, and means for intermittentlyrotating said disk comprising a. rotating shaft driven from the crankshaft, aca-m lever' in connection with said rotatabledisk and camtappets on said shaft to form a spark to ignite the charge in theengine, said cam tappets being arranged spirally around the y axis ofthe shaft and means for longitudinalfly` displacing said shaft to bringdifferent tappets in opposition to the lever.

8. An ignition device. for combustion-engines which consists of arotatable disk and a pencil in frictional Contact therewith, one

of the tivo being made .of pyrophoric ma-v terial, and means forintermittently rotating said disk comprising a rotating shaft drivenfrom the crank shaft, a cam lever in connection with said rotatable diskand cam tappets onsaid shaft to form a spark to ignite the charge in theengine, said means responsive 'to the rotation of the venginecrankshaft, said cam tappets being arranged spirally around the` axis ofthe shaft and means for longitudinally displacing said shaft to bringdifferent tappets in opposition to the lever.

9fTlhe combination with an internal comto ignite the charge bustionengine of a chamber in communication with the cylinder', a diskrotatably. mounted in said chamber, a pencil slidably mounted in saidchamber and engaging at its end said disk, a shaft upon which/said diskis pivotally mounted, a\rocker arm carried by said shaft, yielding meansfor holding said rocker arm in position anda driving device interposedbetween said rocker arm and the engine crank shaft for operating saidrocker arm against said yielding means to rotate the disk. said diskbeing made of pyrophoric material.

10. The combination with an internal combustion engine `of a chamber incommunication with the cylinder, a disk vrotatably mounted in saidchamber, a pencil slidably mounted in said chamber and engaging at itsend said disk, a shaft upon which said disk is pivotally mounted, arocker arm carried by said shaft, yielding means for holding said rockerarm in position and apdriving device interposed between said rocker armand the engine crank shaft for o-perating said rocker arn'i against saidyielding means to rotate the disk, said disk being made of pyrop-horicmaterial, and means for varying the time of rotation of said disk withrespect to the timing of the engine parts.

ll. The combination wit-h a combustion enygine of a rotating' disk, ofpyrophoric ma terial, a pencil lcontacting it and means for rotatingsaid disk lto form a spark, said rotating means vcomprising ashaftdriven by the engine, a cylinder upon saidv shaft, a rocker arm inconnection with said disk, and cam tappets on said cylinder inopposition to said rocker arm to rotate the disk.

12. The combination with combustion engines of a rotating disk ofpyrophoric material, a pencil contacting it and means for. rotating saidNdisk to form a spark, said rotating means comprising a shaft driven-bythe engine, a cylinder upon said shaft, a rocker arm in connection withsaid disk, and cam tappets on said cylinder in opposition to said rockerarm to rotate the disk, and means for simultaneously displacing saidcylinder to bring different cam tappets into opposition with therockerarm, said cam tappets being arranged at different points about theaxis of rotation of the shaft.

13. The combination with a combustion motor of a disk rotating inresponse to the rotation of thepdrive shaft, a pencil in contacttherewith, a portion of said disk being of pyrcphoric material, theremainder not; and means responsive to t-he position of the engine partsfor bringing the pyrophoric portion of the disk intermittently intoengagenient with the pencil.

14. The combination with a combustion motor of a disk rotating inresponse to the rotation of the drive shaft, a pencil in contacttherewith, a portion of said disk being of CII.

pyrophoric materaL-'the remainder not, 'end means responsivetothetgosition .of the engine parts for bringing pyrophoric portionofthe disk intermittently into en 'gement with the pencil, said meanscomprlslng a cam and cam, arm and a 'connection from said cam arm tosaid disk.

.15. lThe combination lwith e' combustion motorvof a disk rotating inresponse to the rotation of the .drive tshaft; a pencil 'sin contacttherevvith, a portion of said disk, being of pyrophoric material, theremainder not, and -means responsive to the position of the engine.parts for bringing the pyrophoric v"Inl testimony w ereof I have aportion of the disk intermittently into engagement with the pencil, saidmeans comprising a cam and cam' arm and a connection from said camnrm toysaid disk, said connection being adapted to slide said disk back andforthy so as to alternately bring the pyrophoric andnon-pyrophoricportions of thedlsk into enga ement with the encil.

ed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN GLEN NEWMAN.

' Witnesses:4

N. J. CANDRIGK, WV. J. DAVIS.

, Copies of this patent may be obtained for v cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

